Nebuchadnezzarene wrote:
Be sure to discuss Matthew 24:34 at your next small group encounter. Warning: It's a buzz kill . . . . . .
Judges 1:19 is fun, too.
Nebuchadnezzarene wrote:
Be sure to discuss Matthew 24:34 at your next small group encounter. Warning: It's a buzz kill . . . . . .
Judges 1:19 is fun, too.
Your problem isn't with organized religion. Your problem is you don't believe with the required amount of certitude what's written in the book that your religion claims is inerrant. You are having significant cognitive dissonance.
bio Domer wrote:
Flagpole wrote:
I stopped going to church in 2008 I think. Prior to that, I was a once a weeker.
Since 2008, I have not been to a single church service.
Not even for a wedding?
I have been to a couple weddings and two funerals since then. Wasn't counting those.
Raddison wrote:
..... wrote:Honest question. Is there a word that one could use to mean "building to assemble for religious observances" that would be accepted by all?
Place of worship is used in Canada.
OK fair enough, that's probably the best idea I've heard thus far. Maybe there's a single word, maybe not. I can stick with this phrase for now.
To the twit who wants to lecture others on what the bible says (complete with Very Important Word Capitalization), get over yourself, OK? If I want to refer to a religious faith, I'll use the word "faith" and not "church".
..... wrote:
Raddison wrote:
Place of worship is used in Canada.
OK fair enough, that's probably the best idea I've heard thus far. Maybe there's a single word, maybe not. I can stick with this phrase for now.
To the twit who wants to lecture others on what the bible says (complete with Very Important Word Capitalization), get over yourself, OK? If I want to refer to a religious faith, I'll use the word "faith" and not "church".
You asked a supposedly “honest” question, even going so far as to admit your understanding of the church might be erroneous. I gave you an honest answer from the very source of the term you have been misusing for 40+ years. You respond with an ad hominem attack. Is a capital ‘B’ really the issue here?
That's strange. Why isn't it always, constant, universal, and non-removable? Can you exist without it even for a nanosecond?
Most of the world follows indigenous traditions where the Gods, Spirits, Dieties, etc are with us24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365/6 days a year.
Literati wrote:
You asked a supposedly “honest” question, even going so far as to admit your understanding of the church might be erroneous. I gave you an honest answer from the very source of the term you have been misusing for 40+ years. You respond with an ad hominem attack. Is a capital ‘B’ really the issue here?
You're the one who introduced a condescending tone, but I did intend my question honestly, so apologies for my insult. The word "church" predates the Christian bible, so there's no ownership here. Sorry, but you are simply wrong on that point. And beyond that, language is defined by its usage, so again no ownership.
It would be useful to have a simple phrase that means this generic idea of "place of religious assembly". The problem is that religion is a loaded topic that divides people into enlightened vs. condemned.
Not exactly true. Once upon a time in my once very liberal United Methodist Church, the "stories" in The Bible were treated as they should have been...stories to try to get across a point, not something to be taken literally. With the progression toward a literal interpretation of The Bible, I had to leave that nonsense. Even those who say they take The Bible literally do not, except for when they want to judge or punish others. We don't hear of people stoning to death someone who was found to be working on the Sabbath.
. I, too have a low tolerance for....inerrancy. (:)), too, It conflicts so with errancy. but I wish my problem with organized religion was only with the bible.
Flagpole wrote:
Nebuchadnezzarene wrote:
Your problem isn't with organized religion. Your problem is you don't believe with the required amount of certitude what's written in the book that your religion claims is inerrant. You are having significant cognitive dissonance.
Not exactly true. Once upon a time in my once very liberal United Methodist Church, the "stories" in The Bible were treated as they should have been...stories to try to get across a point, not something to be taken literally. With the progression toward a literal interpretation of The Bible, I had to leave that nonsense. Even those who say they take The Bible literally do not, except for when they want to judge or punish others. We don't hear of people stoning to death someone who was found to be working on the Sabbath.
There has not been a "progression toward a literal interpretation of The Bible." In fact, the opposite.
The type of Christianity you are seeking has been described as "diet Christianity" - a cherry picking attempt to label highly unlikely supernatural stories in the Bible as fables and fabrications to be utilized in teaching (preaching) moments. The problems with that approach are clear. Where are the lines drawn between fable and fact, who draws them, and with what rule?
What you are going through, or went through, was significant cognitive dissonance. You are skeptical about the accuracy and truth of stories about people rising from the dead, faith healing, and other Biblical recitations that defy various known laws of physics. Yet, you wish to consider yourself and be seen as a Christian. You are in conflict. The method you have chosen to resolve the conflict - skipping church - is deficient. The conundrums still face you and drive you to the pompous, know-it-all behavior you exhibit on this board.
Never.
Well, I take that back. I've been to a few funerals and memorial services. Otherwise, never.
Nope. You are INCORRECT!
1) A person can call themselves a "Christian" based on any understanding of Christianity that they want as hardly ANY two people feel the same exact way about Christian tenets (Now, SOME people so CLEARLY do not follow ANY Christian traditions or understanding, like TRUMP, so HE can't call himself a Christian and be believed). If you want to hold on to the "drawing lines" thing, then you are full of it. Have you ever stoned to death anyone for working on the Sabbath? Do you eat shellfish? Have you ever eaten anything that mixes dairy and meat? Do you eat fat? Do you eat leavened beat when you should not? Do you eat pork? Do you eat seafood lacking scales or fins? Do you eat non-Kosher meat? Have you ever used the Lord's name in vain? Ever broken the Sabbath? Wear clothing made of more than one kind of cloth? Cut the hair on the sides of your head? Clipped your beard? Got any tattoos? Do you allow women to speak in church? Do you allow women to teach? Do you allow women to pray without covering their head? Do YOU pray only with your head covered? And and WHOLE bunch of other things.
2)Who draws the line and where? Well, if you actually believe there is a God, then HE does.
3) I am not SKEPTICAL of the stories. I KNOW that many of them are BS...full on BS.
4) While I very will COULD consider myself a Christian if I follow the teaching of Jesus (who never answered to "Jesus" in his life ever, but who had some good advice despite the nonsense of being the son of God), I do not currently consider myself a Christian. Being accepting of ANY organized religion means you adhere to fantastical nonsense. I currently consider my self an atheist, but I am not an Evangelical one. I have no issue with people for being religious. I DO have problems with people who are hypocrites though and use Christianity to show that they are.
5) I definitely do NOT know everything, but it is clear without debate that NO single religion on this planet has it all correct, and I am of the opinion that there is NO omnipotent being who should be considered "God", and there is no evidence to the contrary.
6) While the number of practicing Christians in the US is dwindling (and that's a good thing), the concentration of literal believers is increasing which is disgusting (and they don't even literally believe it all anyway as shown in #1 above, just when it suits them to demonize others).
Sony Pictures, Culver City wrote:
That's strange. Why isn't it always, constant, universal, and non-removable? Can you exist without it even for a nanosecond?
Most of the world follows indigenous traditions where the Gods, Spirits, Dieties, etc are with us24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365/6 days a year.
That's what's wrong wit the world today. People don't live by the Gods like they should.
I’d say I’m somewhere between .5 and .6 a week. Used to be over 1. I have trouble believing a lot of the stuff the priest says and it feels like propaganda at times. I feel the same way about the Bible in general. Either way, I think church is a good way to be a part of the community, and I am kind of jealous of the blind believers, so I keep going in hopes I’ll have an epiphany. I wish I knew how many people in the pews are on the same page as me. It’s like everyone else is in on an inside secret.
gary houston wrote:
I’d say I’m somewhere between .5 and .6 a week. Used to be over 1. I have trouble believing a lot of the stuff the priest says and it feels like propaganda at times. I feel the same way about the Bible in general. Either way, I think church is a good way to be a part of the community, and I am kind of jealous of the blind believers, so I keep going in hopes I’ll have an epiphany. I wish I knew how many people in the pews are on the same page as me. It’s like everyone else is in on an inside secret.
You will never have an epiphany. Believers just decide to believe. They call it "faith", but that's really just a BS way of saying "there's no proof in any of this crap I believe to be true".
Penn Gillette has the perfect explanation to religion...if the world were to end so that all people became extinct, and it began all over again with evolution so that people or at least beings with the same intelligence as us came to be, some things would be discovered again...elements, how to create radio and television, space travel, etc. What would NOT be the same are things like current languages, and our religions. There would be no one called "Jesus". There would be no "Christianity". It's because those things are not factual concrete things.
Had Christianity never become the state religion and Emperor Constatine hadn't endorsed it, Americans would be praising another son of God or prophet today.
Grew up Catholic and went to church once a week until I started high school. Then I began thinking for myself and while I am not against church/religion and values it teaches, I think I can be a good person on my own without believing in a bunch of made up or greatly exaggerated stories.
coach wrote:
Church? Never I'm Jewish but I go to synagogue once a week, sometimes twice so about 6 times a month. I also go on holidays.
ditto
1-2 times per week. Sunday School and the regular service on Sundays and then Wednesday evenings when we have a bible study.
I just write letters to Santa Claus a few times a year
And I never kill rabbits cuz it could be the Easter Bunny
But I'm not going to pray to every rabbit I see so I don't do silly stuff like that
Any way with the letters to Santa Claus and sparing the Easter Bunny I feel like I've got all bases covered
I'm Hindu. We are always with the Gods. Constantly. Temples are props only.